Tom Smith (L) of the Editors performs at the Mercury Music Prize Awards in London September 5, 2006. The Mercury Music Prize honours the best album of the last year by a UK or Irish act, chosen from a wide range of musical genres. It is voted by a panel of music industry experts, journalists and music artists.

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LONDON (Reuters) - It was all so easy for the indie rock band Editors as their new album "An End has a Start" shot to number one in the latest album charts.

Ahead of the band's release of their second album, lead songwriter Tom Smith had said its compilation had been "natural and easy-going".

"We never felt like we were going through any kind of difficult second album nonsense," he said.

"We never hit any wall of 'we don't have enough singles'. It was all very natural and easy-going."

The ease continued when they pipped Kelly Clarkson, the first winner of the TV series "American Idol", to the top spot.

The Texan singer-songwriter came in at number two with her album "My December", according to the Official UK Charts Company.

The Traveling Wilburys' "Collection" moved down one place to three to make way for the two new entrants, while American rock duo White Stripes was another pushed out, with its album "Icky Thump" dropping from one to four.

Another new entrant was Welsh legend Shirley Bassey who recently dazzled at the Glastonbury festival. Her album "Get the Party Started" came in at number six.

Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" rose one to five after 35 weeks in the charts, while Rihanna's "Good Girl Gone Bad" went nowhere at seven. The Police slipped three places to eight, and Take That's collection "Never Forget" fell from nine to 10.

American rock band Killers improved an impressive 27 places to reach nine with their album "Sam's Town".

It's all been rather easy also for R&B singer Rihanna and New York rapper Jay-Z in the singles chart where their song "Umbrella" remained at number one for the seventh week.

Former actress and suburban teen Kate Nash rose a whopping 185 places to number two with her song "Foundations".

Breakthrough rock band Enemy showed there was a lot more to come with their single "Had Enough", which climbed from 51 to four.

TV talent show winner Lee Mead fell three places to five with "Any Dream Will Do", but Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias stayed at three with "Do You Know".

Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, who got his big break after posting his music on the MySpace Web site, dropped from four to nine with "The Girls".

American R&B singer Kelly Rowland, formerly of Destiny's Child, slipped three to eight with "Like This", a collaboration with the Philadelphia rapper Eve.

The Hoosiers moved to six with "Worried About Ray". Their downloads alone had taken them to 16 last week.

Jack Penate, an indie musician of English and Spanish descent renowned for his live performances, showed he was popular on disc as well, moving from 25 to seven with "Torn on the Platform".